Teddy Bear
by NightingaleRose
Summary: A little boy clings to his teddy bear as he stares at the stars. All he ever wanted was a friend.


Disclaimer: You know the drill, don't own it.

Enjoy and please review!

**_XXXX_**

A small little boy hugged his teddy bear to his chest. It was around midnight and everyone was a sleep except him. For as long as he could remember, sleeping always lead to bad things happening. Bad things that he didn't know how to stop so he never slept.

The little red head stared out of his window into the night. For a little bit he watched the stars as they made their trek across the sky. Soon he grew bored of this and focused on his own reflection in the window

The image of a 5-year-old little boy stared back at him. His bright green eyes took in the mess his red hair was. There was no taming his hair. A maid tried once, but she pulled too hard with the brush. His sand took action to defend him and crushed her arm. The maids avoided him after that.

As far back as he could remember there was nothing but pain and sorrow. Adults and children alike avoided him. Maybe it was because he had killed already? True, his sands were soaked with the blood of his would-be killers and innocents.

The little boy sighed softly as he closed his eyes and rested his head against the windowpane. He tightened his grip on the teddy bear in his arms. It was his only friend it seemed. No one wanted to play with the child that killed without reason.

There was the sound of shuffling from his door way. He didn't open his eyes as the small footsteps came further into his room. He felt something drape over his shoulders and slowly opened his eyes and turned his head a bit to see who was brave enough to drape a blanket over his thin frame.

A blonde haired girl and reached out to stroke his hair "If you sit at the window all night again, you'll be sore in the morning."

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

She sighed softly as she pulled her hand away. "Why not do something productive? You could find a book or a scroll and read all night instead of staring out into space."

He closed his eyes again. "It's okay Temari, I don't mind watching the stars."

"I know Gaara, but I worry about you. I'm your sister, it's sort of in the job description." She fiddled with the blanket a bit; making sure it was wrapped around him good enough.

"Why bother? You know Father's going to be sending more assassins after me again. I just want to have a friend for once…" he huddled himself into the blankets and clung to his teddy.

Temari watched her youngest brother. She hated what their so-called father was doing to him. No child should have made their first kill before they could even walk. "You will, some day. But for now you at least have me and Kankuro."

"Maybe… but is that enough?" Gaara turned his body slightly so he could look up at his sister. "Someday I'm going to lose it, then what? I'll be all alone in my insanity."

"No. You will always have us Gaara."

**_XXXXX_**

Gaara's face bore a psychotic grin as he held his hand out and closed his fist. "Sabaku SouSou" he stared intently as his sand contracted around the enemy and turned his sand red with blood.

Temari watched her youngest brother kill. She felt sick to her stomach as she turned away from the sight of the blood soaked sand.

That night they camped out under the stars. So far, their mission to wipe out the bandits was nearly complete. Yet, she felt like something was wrong.

She glanced up from the fire she was tending and looked around for Gaara. She spotted him on top of a near by sand dune. She sighed softly as she turned to Kankuro. "Take over for me."

The puppet user grumbled as he took the stick she had been using. "Don't waste your breath on him Temari, he's a lost cause now."

She gave him an annoyed look. "How can you say that? He's still our little brother."

He shrugged. "He's been getting worse for the last six years. I don't think that any amount of talking will help him now. He's too far gone."

"We'll just have to see about that." She stood up and walked out of camp towards her brother. Their sensei didn't even look up as she passed him. By now, this had become routine for them. Every mission Temari would make an attempt to talk to her youngest brother. Every time she had to be rescued by Baki-sensei.

"Gaara? You'll get cold sitting out here."

Gaara didn't even move when he heard his sister's voice. In truth he was expecting it. He remained silent as he stared out across the desert.

She hesitated for a moment before taking a seat near him on the dune. She knew better than to get too close to him. She knew that the sand he wielded would react to anything it viewed as a threat even if Gaara didn't want it to. She just wasn't sure if Gaara didn't want it to or not.

"Why?"

She jumped a little. She wasn't expecting him to say anything. Every time she tried to do something like this he'd ignore her to the point where she got mad enough to try and reach out and touch him. That never ended well.

"I don't know Gaara. No one ever does."

"Hn. Then why try?"

"I guess it's because it's human nature to try." She turned her gaze from her little brother to the stars above them. "You used to watch the stars all night when you were younger."

"Time's have changed."

She sighed softly. "I know. A lot of things have changed for the worse."

They both fell silent for a few long moments. Gaara's green eyes flickered up to the stars before going back to staring out at the desert stretched out before them. "I could easily kill you for annoying me."

She tensed a little and tore her eyes away from the stars to stare at her little brother. "Yeah, you could. But I trust you not to."

"I kill to live. What is there to trust?" He turned to stare at her as the sands around them started to shift.

She glanced around at the moving sand and hesitated. "You're my brother Gaara."

That got a sarcastic laugh from the red head. "Family means nothing to me. Father has taught me that."

The sand started to quickly condense around Temari as he held his hand out flat. "Sabaku Kyuu"

Temari attempted to cry out, only to have it cut off as she was incased in sand.

"Gaara! Let her go!" There was a puff of smoke and Baki was beside his two students.

Gaara turned to stare up at him. He was tempted to close his fist and crush his sister to death with his sands. The demon part of him called out for more blood. The voice that was slowly driving him to the brink of madness was working itself into frenzy at the mere thought of blood and death. But there was a small part of him that begged for him to let her go. She was his sister. He shouldn't be doing this to her.

His sands loosened up and started to crumble away to reveal a gasping Temari. She scooted away from Gaara as she looked up at Baki-sensei.

Maybe Kankuro was right. Gaara was a lost cause. She turned away from her little brother and scrambled down the dune to the campsite. She didn't look back.

Gaara watched her go. He felt a brief pang of sadness as she made her way down the dune.

Baki stood there for a few moments before leaving without a word.

Gaara sighed as he turned his gaze back out to the desert. Maybe one day this would all end. For now, he killed to prove he was alive.


End file.
